Winning Ways: What Part Will You Play in Someone’s Faith Story?

I love “Faith Stories,” and Jonathan Chen shared a great one last Sunday! “As an international student from China,” he told us, “I faced 2 barriers, huge mountains, to accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” The first was his atheistic background, and the second was to admit he was a sinner.

These barriers were overcome by a co-worker’s invitation to her church’s loving care and faithful teaching. “At LSU, the first people I met at a jambalaya party in our school director’s home were Vicky and Mark Tiller. They were a Godly couple. I know now God assigned Vicky to be my office mate. Vicky invited me to a Wednesday night supper at Southside Baptist Church.”

After a year of experiencing the love and teaching of this church family, Jonathan said, “I realized obtaining a PhD degree was just a gain of scholarly esteem. I needed to purpose everlasting life through Jesus Christ. My family and I declared Jesus was our personal Savior and were baptized.”

You can read the full transcript of his testimony at www.GetAnchored.blogspot.com. What will God do with your own invitation to have a classmate or co-worker attend Hillcrest with you?

“Unhindered!”

We’ll be in Acts 28 on August 28, and so end our 16-month study through the Book of Acts. The last word in the Greek text of Acts is akolutos, which means unhindered: “He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance!” It cannot be a coincidence that the last word of this book is the best one-word summary of the whole book!

To that end, the theme of our 2011 Missions and Ministry Fair is Unhindered! After the 10 a.m. service this week, you will be released to our gym filled with booths and tables with information on the ministries and missions our church supports. Come and get informed, get inspired, and get involved!

Callers Are Needed

Our 2011 Connection Campaign begins in just a few weeks. Volunteer to be a caller! Based on previous experience, our calls should result in about a hundred interested in attending our church, and about a thousand interested in prayer. Let us train you and put you to work! Contact Herb Ingram right away (herb@hbcaustin.org or 345-3771).

___________________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.